So, why has smoking gone up 33 per cent?

The Ontario ‘war on tobacco’ just eliminated virtually every tobacco farmer in the province – with no thought of compensation from the McGuinty government. And yet, this month, we learned of a 33 per cent increase in smoking in the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant LHIN catchment area – an area that includes Burlington and most of Norfolk.

Last week, in the Ontario Legislature I asked two McGuinty cabinet ministers how this could be? How can smoking go up 33 per cent in a population of one million – that’s the size of Saskatchewan -- when tobacco farmers have left the field? How could such a tobacco policy blunder occur?
First, the Minister of Health Promotion Margarett Best skirted the question and used her time to boast of the most comprehensive anti-smoking legislation in North America. Ironic isn’t it, Ontario now has high tobacco taxes and the toughest anti-smoking measures, but according to Cancer Care Ontario, smoking is on the rise.

The McGuinty government has spent $13 million on Smoke-Free Ontario and $7 million on cessation ads over the past three years. It’s obvious these campaigns aren’t working and they won’t work until McGuinty and gang admit smokers are getting cheap cigarettes from smoke shacks, including Brant County/Six Nations and government land south of Caledonia. This sentiment was reported by Cancer Care Ontario in The Hamilton Spectator.

A few days later I then asked Agriculture Minister Leona Dombrowsky the same question. Here’s what she said: “I’m really at a loss to understand the action that this government has taken that would have created the result that he [Barrett] has indicated.” Once again, a Cabinet Minister who fails to recognize the obvious.

Nearly 50 per cent of the tobacco consumed across Ontario is contraband.
This government has an obligation to deal with the illegal tobacco market just as it has an obligation to pay compensation for eliminating the value of farmer’s quota. The Agriculture Minister did acknowledge I have been pressing the McGuinty government to participate in the Tobacco Transition Program. Aside from my questions and statements in the Ontario Legislature, I have penned a number of letters requesting financial assistance for tobacco farm families.

My most recent letter reminded her that the Ontario government is receiving $157 million from the civil settlement agreement. That $157 million would almost cover the traditional 40 per cent share – a provincial contribution of $167 million would bring the total buyout of quota to a little more than $1.75 per pound. It would give farmers an opportunity to re-establish themselves in other areas of the rural economy.

Precedent has been set for Ontario to join a program after the fact with residual money collected from budgets not entirely spent. An example would be the $20 million from the Mike Harris government to help growers retrofit their kilns. This was announced May 24 of that year. A few years later, the current government allocated $50 million to join the first Tobacco Assistance Program.

In conclusion, I note neither Minister Best nor Minister Dombrowsky presented a McGuinty government plan to deal with illegal tobacco in Ontario. In the meantime, they continue to waste millions of taxpayers dollars and boast out-of-date statistics.

Meanwhile, smoking has gone up 33 per cent!